Motivation Matters

Motivation matters.

That’s because motivated people are engaged people and we haven’t got enough of them in the UK.

In fact, only 10% of UK employees feel engaged and low worker engagement costs the UK economy £257bn a year, according to Gallup’s most recent State of the Global Workplace report.

Grim reading for leaders and managers.

69% of employees say they experience bad management. That’s because 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager (Gallup again).

And it gets worse.

While 97% of employers think they’re doing a good job of managing their people, 69% of employees say they experience bad management. Oof!

Motivation is a key factor. It’s the spark that drives engagement, pushing people to invest energy into their work. That, in turn drives job satisfaction and productivity.

Following the free webinar last week, I’m going to be offering some practical tips to help motivate your teams.

Leadership Essentials

Motivation comes from different sources.

It can come from within (intrinsic motivation) by wanting to succeed, enjoying the task at hand and gaining a sense of pride from doing well.

And it can also come from external factors (extrinsic motivation) like positive feedback, pay rises, promotions and bonuses as well as avoiding the negative consequences of failure.

Managers and leaders have a huge influence on how motivated their team members feel, especially in terms of extrinsic motivation. Because, guess what? YOU are extrinsic! If you’re a manager, how can you help?

Here are six essentials for motivational leadership:

• Help manage workload and deadlines

• Treat people fairly and ensure that everyone gets some relevant attention from you (not just the superstars and the low performers)

• Provide growth, momentum and progression opportunities

• Offer a sense of belonging and inclusion to all. Culture matters!

• Enable people to make meaningful contributions

•  Provide clarity (on tasks, expectations and changes, for example)

These are deceptively simple, but there’s a lot of nuance here. How managers and leaders actually do this can vary so much – and that impacts their effectiveness.

The Umbrella

In the face of change, it can be difficult for leaders and managers to keep everyone motivated.

A great manager shields their team from uncertainty, unclear priorities and panicA great manager shields their team from uncertainty, unclear priorities and panic - like they are holding up a very large umbrella.

Consistency is really helpful for motivation. Leading with empathy, offering stability, helping your team to focus on what they can control, pointing to their strengths, keeping the goalposts still – these are all things managers can do to keep their teams engaged, even as the ridiculous requests and unnecessary meetings continue to rain down.

I would also say that managers need to look after themselves too. There’s only so long that umbrella will hold out!

The root causes around unnecessary uncertainty and workload do also need to be addressed by pushing back and acting strategically. The umbrella analogy runs out at this point because we actually need to “control the weather”. But that’s a post for another day!

Control vs Abdication

Are you accidentally holding people back because you’re over-explaining or under-explaining when it comes to delegating tasks?

Too much prescription can lead to people feeling micro-managed and demotivated.

Too much latitude can lead to procrastination and uncertainty.

Most of us have had an experience of either being micromanaged or given a task or brief that was seriously under-developed. And most of us vow we’ll never do that to others. So it’s worth being curious about your own briefing process to make sure we’re living up to that self-promise.

After all, it’s a fine line between empowering and abandoning.

Cross it too often and suddenly everything’s urgent, confusing, or on fire.

Look for middle performers

Managers and leaders, are you paying attention to the middle performers in your teams?

The superstars in teams demand joy. The low performers demand time.

But the “decent” people…the “safe” pairs of hands…the ones who don’t cause any trouble? They’re very often taken for granted.

But they have the potential to be future stars if you pay attention to them and find ways to motivate them.

Ignore them at your peril. They may well go elsewhere to shine.

Management and Leadership Training

If you’re looking for more support on motivating your team, we offer bespoke leadership coaching, an in-depth management and leadership training course, and bite-size leadership coaching sessions with an independent business coach.

Are you or a team member taking a step up? Our Becoming a Manager course is designed for new PR account managers, so you can start as you mean to go on.